Oct. 15, 2012
Rachel Kraft
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov
Candrea Thomas
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
candrea.k.thomas@nasa.gov
Gwen Griffin/Brooke Crawford
Griffin Communications Group
281-335-0200
gwen@griffincg.com / brooke@griffincg.com
RELEASE: 12-362
NASA COMMERCIAL CREW PARTNER BLUE ORIGIN COMPLETES ROCKET ENGINE THRUST CHAMBER TEST
WASHINGTON -- NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP) partner Blue Origin
has successfully fired the thrust chamber assembly for its new
100,000 pound thrust BE-3 liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen rocket
engine. As part of Blue's Reusable Booster System (RBS), the engines
are designed eventually to launch the biconic-shaped Space Vehicle
the company is developing.
The test was part of Blue Origin's work supporting its funded Space
Act Agreement with NASA during Commercial Crew Development Round 2
(CCDev2). CCDev2 continues to bring spacecraft and launch vehicle
designs forward to develop a U.S. commercial crew space
transportation capability that ultimately could become available for
the government and other customers.
"Blue Origin continues to be extremely innovative as it develops a
crew-capable vehicle for suborbital and orbital flights," said Ed
Mango, CCP manager. "We're thrilled the company's engine test fire
was met with success."
The test took place early this month on the E-1 test stand at NASA's
Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss. Blue Origin engineers
successfully completed the test by powering the thrust chamber to its
full power level.
"We are very excited to have demonstrated a new class of
high-performance hydrogen engines," said Rob Meyerson, president and
program manager of Blue Origin. "Access to the Stennis test facility
and its talented operations team was instrumental in conducting
full-power testing of this new thrust chamber."
As part of CCDev2, Blue Origin also completed a system requirements
review of its spacecraft. During the review, engineers and technical
experts representing NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration and
the company assessed the spacecraft's ability to meet safety and
mission requirements to low-Earth orbit. That review also included
results from more than 100 wind tunnel tests of the vehicle's
aerodynamic design, stability during flight and cross-range
maneuverability.
All of NASA's industry partners, including Blue Origin, continue to
meet their established milestones in developing commercial crew
transportation capabilities.
While NASA works with U.S. industry partners to develop commercial
spaceflight capabilities, the agency also is developing the Orion
spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS), a crew capsule and
heavy-lift rocket to provide an entirely new capability for human
exploration. Designed to be flexible for launching spacecraft for
crew and cargo missions, SLS and Orion will expand human presence
beyond low-Earth orbit and enable new missions of exploration into
the solar system.
For more information about NASA's Commercial Crew Program, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew
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